Mahaska County vs Washington County

A side-by-side comparison of Mahaska County and Washington County: population, income, housing, and more.

Mahaska County and Washington County are counties in Iowa. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Washington County has the higher population (22,539 vs 22,045 in Mahaska County). Washington County has the higher median household income ($71,339 vs $69,019 in Mahaska County). Washington County has the higher median home value ($199,600 vs $140,900 in Mahaska County).

Population, income & housing

	Mahaska County	Washington County
Population	22,045	22,539
Median age	39.1 yrs	40.3 yrs
Median household income	$69,019	$71,339
Median home value	$140,900	$199,600
Median gross rent	$821	$862
Housing units	9,708	9,638
Homeownership rate	67.8%	72.2%
Bachelor's degree or higher	23.0%	24.9%
Unemployment rate	3.3%	2.5%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Mahaska County	Washington County
Population	22,164 → 22,045 (-0.5%)	22,100 → 22,539 (+2.0%)
Median household income	$54,825 → $69,019 (+25.9%)	$62,556 → $71,339 (+14.0%)
Median home value	$115,300 → $140,900 (+22.2%)	$151,600 → $199,600 (+31.7%)
Median gross rent	$652 → $821 (+25.9%)	$754 → $862 (+14.3%)

Mahaska County

Population

22,16422,045

Median household income

$54,825$69,019

Median home value

$115,300$140,900

Median gross rent

$652$821

Washington County

Population

22,10022,539

Median household income

$62,556$71,339

Median home value

$151,600$199,600

Median gross rent

$754$862

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Mahaska County	Washington County
Under 5	6.1%	6.3%
5 to 17	17.8%	18.3%
18 to 24	9.8%	7.5%
25 to 34	11.2%	11.1%
35 to 44	11.9%	12.5%
45 to 54	11.1%	11.2%
55 to 64	13.1%	13.3%
65 to 74	10.9%	11.0%
75 and over	8.1%	8.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Mahaska County	Washington County
White (non-Hispanic)	92.2%	89.2%
Black or African American	1.5%	0.6%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	1.2%	0.5%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.1%	0.2%
Two or more races	2.6%	2.1%
Hispanic or Latino	2.4%	7.4%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Mahaska County	Washington County
No high school diploma	6.0%	6.8%
High school graduate	38.7%	35.8%
Some college or associate's	32.3%	32.5%
Bachelor's degree	17.0%	16.5%
Graduate or professional degree	6.0%	8.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Mahaska County	Washington County
Drove alone	80.2%	77.8%
Carpooled	9.4%	9.1%
Public transit	0.1%	1.0%
Walked	3.7%	2.5%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	6.3%	8.5%
Other means	0.3%	1.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Mahaska County	Washington County
1-unit, detached	78.1%	79.0%
1-unit, attached	1.0%	3.4%
2 to 4 units	8.9%	7.9%
5 to 19 units	5.3%	4.9%
20 or more units	1.4%	1.3%
Mobile home & other	5.3%	3.5%

Poverty & households

	Mahaska County	Washington County
Poverty rate	11.9%	8.5%
Average household size	2.40	2.45
Mean commute (minutes)	18	24
Median year structure built	1963	1962